[Trish36]

Ouch - I woke up Sat morning with the worst tooth ache ever. called my dentist and she squeezed me in to take an x-ray. My tooth is infected and she gave me antibiotics and painkillers and a referral to a specialist for a root canal. So to make a long story short, I don't want to bore you, the root canal would cost me $1245 and my insurance only covers $850.
I can't believe that my regular dentist doesn't do that. UGH!

Anyway, I am going to see a different dentist tomorrow and see what she says. I'm just wondering if an infection can actually get better with the anibiotic and I wouldn't need the root canal. It's already feeling much better now. I can actually bite down on that tooth. Yes it still hurts, but it's also going to hurt in the wallet if I have to pay that kind of money. sigh!!!
Gotta love specialists.

[KMH]

I had that happen to me a few years ago. The way I understood it, the infection caused permanent damage, and if I didn't get a root canal, I would have kept getting infections. I bit the bullet and had it done.

Do you know if the price covers the crown? Usually after a root canal, the tooth is crowned (after the root canal, there are no roots and the tooth is dead, meaning it will discolor and become weak with time), but I put off the crown for a few months to save money in the short-term. You might ask!

[Celine]

Yikes. Sorry you have such a bad infection. Sounds pretty painful.

I have had a rootcanal a while ago. My tooth hurt like hell. I couldn't eat anything- only dry bread b/c anything hot/cold would hurt and drinks are usually so cold (well for my tooth they were soooo cold) and that hurt!!! I postponed the procedure for a couple of weeks and they gave me some painkillers to get me through it. Only b/c I was terrified of the procedure. which wasn't bad at all. It cost about what you were quoted- b/c the specialist did it. I think I had to pay about $800 out of pocket. I had to have a crown put on after the root canal. It was like 2 more trips to the regular dentist after the root canal. That added up. But he did a great job. I had no pain during or after.

Which tooth is it? I have to say your dental insurance is really good that they cover so much. I don't know enough about teeth to know if your tooth can get better, but if the infection is really deep, it may have killed some of your nerves (? or something rather - not a dentist here )already and the tooth can start dying- and then it turns a black-brown color.

A friend of mine was told to have a root canal and was quoted that much money (that was also a long time ago) and she said "no way I am paying that much money to have a dead tooth in my mouth" so she got it pulled. It was one in the back. Not that I am suggesting that you should get your tooth pulled. I feel like I am worth that much money for a tooth. Need to chew, you know? My tooth was also in the back btw.

Hope the pain will go away soon.

[KatieHeitman]

Some regular dentists do root canals, but it also depends on which tooth it is. I had to have one done like 4 years ago, but my regular dentist said he couldn't do it because it was the furthest molar back and my mouth is too small. So I had to drive 100 miles to a specialist to get it done. Mine started as a toothache that wouldn't go away ever and there was no infection either. Good luck!

[Trish36]

well I went to my mother's dentist and I love her. She is great and she does everything (including crowns, rootcanals, bridges), so I won't have to go anywhere else to get the filling afterwards. She started the procedure today by cleaning the tooth out and putting meds in the tooth. Not sure exactly. The worst part was getting the needle at the beginning. I hate those. I can still feel it now in my gum. ugh! I have to go back in 10 days and have a 2nd procedure and then she'll put the filling back in the tooth. All that is only going to cost $700. I'm so glad I went to her.